Speakeasy Cinema

Here's a little 'You heard it here first': I have some inside information that the Vanguard Cinema, which was going to be in Mellwood, is changing its name to Speakeasy Cinema and relocating and starting work very soon. The Speakeasy will show indie, vintage, foreign, documentary... in other words, 'alternative' films and serve fine beer, wine... and food during the showings. This is an idea that has been used around the country and should do really well in a funky, artsy town like Louisville. Here's the website. Even in the current economy, this is a great idea: food and beer and film - all together. I can't wait.

http://www.louisvillespeakeasy.com/

and on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Louisvill ... 222?ref=nf

Do you know where they are moving to?

Nope... not yet. They were supposed to get confirmation on Friday... should find out this week.

That is awesome! CAnnot wait!

I love movies and the cinema and will be thrilled to see this business finally get its doors open. However... I have bit of a problem with any business that opens or tries to open without any operating capitol and expects the puplic to come up with the funding. It has a feeling of not taking ownership of your own business and laying the responsibility off on others. I do wish them well, I hope they succeed. I dunno, perhaps this is the business future for all new start ups given this economic climate.

Direct local investment models are a breath of fresh air. I hope we see more of them.

Would it somehow be better if we all gave our money to a financial institution so Speakeasy could go beg for it while someone in some other city charges fees to decide if we ever see it in our community again and then takes an additional cut if we do? That's how small businesses usually acquire capital. In that model, most of the public who provided the funds won't ever know where their money went and therefore can't support their own investment.

Our entire financial system is essentially a ponzi scheme based on funds that exist only on paper. I'll take my chances with $10 toward $20 worth of prepaid cinema tickets. At least most of it will stay in the community.

Hello! I'm one of the folks behind Speakeasy Cinema (nee Vanguard Cinema). I just wanted to respond to some of the concerns in this thread. We are offering pre-opening memberships as a way of rewarding those who will be our best customers by giving deep discounts in exchange for a little faith. We are in no way relying on these funds -- as a matter of fact, the amount we've raised from the public is .004% of our total startup costs! We also wanted to use this program as a way of showing investors (all local, by the way) the level of interest Louisville has in this project.

I'm very happy that you guys have enough interest in Speakeasy Cinema to go to the trouble of discussing it on this forum. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Oh, and by the way, the building owners requested a 20 day extension to review our bid. Hopefully, this is good news, although the wait is killing me.

What has been the level of local interest, btw?

Well, judging from the amount of people who ask on a daily basis when we're opening, it's fabulous. We have done fairly decent on the membership front, considering it's a giant leap of faith for those who have gone ahead and purchased them.

But even I have been surprised at the constant chatter and excitement in the general community. It's fun to go someplace and overhear people talking about the joint!

So the location is no longer at mellwood ?? And the new location is where?

Hey Joe,

Derrick posted that lease negotiations are still going on. I wouldn't expect an announcement until at least the 1rst of April.

We are attempting to buy, not lease a building. It is in Germantown. More info as it becomes available!

Negotiations seemed to be dead in the water, but have recently been revived.

Anything new?